Examining News Use and Attitudes towards Direct Action Climate Protests

• In Event: Media, Protest and Violence

Abstract

The year 2023 was the warmest on record, coming at a time when the world is also seeing the worsening of extreme weather events (Poynting & Rivault, 2024). This not only provides a foretaste of the anticipated climate change impacts but also emphasizes the urgent need for extensive governmental action to mitigate adverse consequences. However, despite the urgency, only a few governments have taken necessary measures (Chen et al., 2022).

In response to widespread inaction, climate activists in some countries are engaging in direct action protests (Bugden, 2020). These protests, organized by groups like Just Stop Oil in the UK, Sunrise Movement in US, Letzte Generation in Germany, and Les Soulevements de la Terre in France, employ disruptive yet peaceful tactics, including blocking transport routes, disrupting sporting events, and gluing themselves to famous artworks, aiming to capture the attention of the public and policymakers. However, these protests can be controversial, and the efficacy of such disruptive approaches is hotly debated in the media (Young & Thomas-Walters, 2024), raising questions about whether the public supports such tactics.

Previous studies have highlighted the importance of news media in providing information about climate change and influencing people's perceptions of climate protests (Hart & Feldman, 2016; Newman et al., 2020). However, research examining the impact of using different types of news media on public attitudes towards climate action in comparative context is still scarce (Thaker, 2023)—especially when it comes to direct action protests, which are a relatively new phenomena. To fill this gap, we conducted an online survey in August 2023 in four countries: France, Germany, the UK, and the USA. Using nationally representative samples, we collected the data on public support for direct action protests alongside people’s use of offline (TV, radio, print newspapers), online platforms (websites of newspapers, TV/radio websites, digital news outlet), and social media for news related to climate change, as well as their level of concern for climate change.

Our three research questions are: (i) How are different socio-demographic variables with support for direct-action protests, (ii) which type of media use is associated with support for protests, and (iii) how people’s level of concern for climate change is linked to their support for direct-action climate protests?

First, our results indicate that across countries, men (β = -0.04, p = .013), older individuals (β = -0.14, p < .000), right-leaning individuals (β = -0.20, p < .001) tend to show less support for direct-action protests. On the other hand, higher levels of education (β = 0.03, p = .043) are positively associated with support for direct-action climate protests.

Secondly, when controlling for demographic variables, our findings reveal a negative association between the use of offline media (β = -0.12, p < .000) and a positive association with social media use (β = 0.05, p = .001) regarding support for protests, while online media use did not show a significant association.

Thirdly, we examined the impact of people's concern for climate change and found a positive relationship between their support for protests and the level of concern (β = 0.28, p < .000).

Overall, our results underscore the nuanced interplay between demographic characteristics, ideological perspectives, media consumption habits, and concern for climate change in shaping attitudes towards direct action as a means of protest, while also illustrating associations of different strength across the four countries.

Authors

• Waqas Ejaz, University of Oxford

• Richard Fletcher, University of Oxford